No. 14 Indiana Women's Basketball Hosts Clark, No. 4 Iowa; Needs Marquee Win

No. 14 Indiana women's basketball (21-4, 12-3) hosts No. 4 Iowa (23-3, 12-2) Thursday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers' only win against the Hawkeyes in the past six meetings was last season at home. Caitlin Clark is coming off breaking the women's D-I scoring record.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — No. 14 Indiana women’s basketball hosts Caitlin Clark and No. 4 Iowa Thursday night with its Big Ten regular-season title hopes on the line. The Hoosiers are 1½ games behind first-place No. 2 Ohio State and would be tied for second if it pulls off the upset before a sold-out crowd at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Iowa beat Michigan by 17 points a week ago after being upset at Nebraska. Clark, who scored 30 points in the 84-57 victory over Indiana in January, scored 49 points against the Wolverines to break the women’s Division I scoring record. The Hoosiers need to prevent Clark from getting hot from the outside. She hit nine 3-pointers against Michigan but only shot 5-for-15 at Nebraska.

When Indiana went to Iowa in January, Clark shot 6-for-16 from 3-point range but got plenty of help from her teammates. The senior dished 11 assists, matching her season-high at that point. Three other Hawkeyes scored in double figures, led by Molly Davis’ 18 points and Gabbie Marshall’s four 3-pointers. Indiana also got killed on the glass that game and was outrebounded, 37-28.

On that snowy night in Iowa City, about 15,000 Iowa fans showed up to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington is sold out, the second in as many seasons for the program. In the sellout last year versus Purdue, the Hoosiers clinched the Big Ten regular-season title over Iowa, the program’s first in 40 years. Before another big crowd Thursday night, Indiana could use a win to significantly bolster its postseason résumé.

Indiana is coming off its 20-point loss to an unranked Illinois team on Monday afternoon. The loss dropped them to the No. 5 seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology, meaning they would no longer host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa, on the other hand, moved up to the No. 1 seed following its win over Michigan last week.

At Illinois, Indiana senior guard Sydney Parrish returned to action for the first time in seven games after an injury. She only played six minutes, didn’t score, but could play more minutes Thursday.

In January, Parrish tied for the team’s second-most points versus the Hawkeyes. Mackenzie Holmes led with 16 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Sophomore Yarden Garzon also had 11 points but also posted six turnovers. In the last four games, Garzon has only committed four total turnovers. 

The Hoosiers also could use more scoring Thursday night from Sara Scalia, who went 0-for-4 from 3-point range against Iowa last month and did not hit double figures. Indiana shot 5-for-20 from 3-point range in the loss and will need to improve on that Thursday night. 

The highly anticipated top-15 matchup tips-off at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on Peacock.

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• HOW TO WATCH INDIANA VS IOWA: The prime-time matchup will air on Peacock. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA-ILLINOIS GAME STORY: Indiana traveled to play Illinois Monday afternoon and lost by 20 points. The Illini used a big second quarter to drive the win. CLICK HERE
• SARA SCALIA BREAKS 3-POINT RECORD: Fifth-year Hoosier guard Sara Scalia made four 3-pointers, which was just enough to break the Indiana single-season record. CLICK HERE
• WATCH: MACKENZIE HOLMES BREAKS SCORING RECORD: Here are three videos on Mac